
£ 

111 






CELEBRATION 



%h^\iim of tjjt (itaiistitution of tijc Mmith State. 



t'' 



LETTER OF WILLIAM CAEEY JONES, 

OF CALIFORNIA, 

To the Democratic Central Committee of Pemisi/Ivania. 
J 



Washington, Sept. loth, 1S56. 

Gentlemen : — I have had the honor to receive 
a request on your behalf, to attend a meeting of the 
Democracy, and all friends of the Constitution, to 
be held at Independence Square, in Philadelphia, 
on the occasion of the anniversary of the adoption 
of that charter of the Union and our liberties. 

No invitation could have been more grateful to 
me; for there is no occasion, and no place, in which 
I should have so much satisfaction in raising my 
voice before my fellow-countrymen, especially at 
this crisis in the fate of that Union whose "more 
perfect" formation, and that Constitution whose es- 
tablishment you propose thus appropriately to 
celebrate. 

The day of the adoption of the Constitution ought 
to be observed as one of our national holidays. 
The Fourth of July brings annually a popular and 
patriotic jubilant. The Twenty-second of Febru- 
ary serves to refresh our recollections of the great 
Washington, and his great associates. The addi- 
tion of the Seventeenlh of September to those national 
festivals, would give occasion for popular addresses 
and writings on the character, principles and pur- 
pose 5 of the Constitution, making it more familiar to 
the public mind, hence more sacred to the public 
heart. No occasion can be fitter than the present 
to inau^nirate that holiday into our annual com- 
memorations. 

I cannot promise to be present, and shall not, 
therefore, wish you to reserve mo a place, when 
there are so many certain to be there, and glad to 



address their fellow-countrymen on such an occa- 
sion. Whatever I should have to say would be for 
the Constitution and the Union : hence for that 
great patriotic party which now alone represents, 
if it may not indeed bo said to constitute the Union, 
the party that alone of the political organizations 
of the day pervades the whole Union, and in all the 
States presents the same front, and oflFers to the na- 
tional acceptance the same Constitutional doc- 
trines. 

To my apprehension, it is rather a 2ienersion of 
the Constitution than a division of the Union, that 
we are immediately threatened with. I have never 
allowed myself to contemiJlate the possibility of a 
division of the Union. I can no more imagine a 
line of separation, than a line by which a human 
body might be cleft and the parts survive. But 
that the harmony of the Union may be broken up, 
and hence its advantages be lost ; sectional discord 
and hate, (already so violent in words,) be foment- 
ed to the point of civil war ; the Constitution be 
perverted by abuses and aggressions, and finally be 
overthrown ; and that these dangers are imminent, 
are facts that no reflecting person can shut from 
his sight. 

The point at which the Constitution is now 
chiefly threatened, is in those provisions of it which 
qualify the supremacy of mere numerical majorities 
by the element of State representation in the Senate, 
and in the election of the President : the features 
which give it its distinctive characteristics, make 
it a federative instead of a consolidated Union, and 



E^^^ 



which are the only snfcg lards to the ijtates for re- 
taining control over cveu their domestic legisla- 
tion. There has been a tcudency to that radical 
change in our Government for a long time, and 
an evident disposition, on the part of many politi- 
cians who are now marshaling the hetereogeuious 
coalition that styles itself " Republican," to encour- j 
age that tendency and hasten it. It has lately 
been boldly and authoritatively avowed : and, in i 
repeated instances in the recent sessione of Con- 
gress, was attempted to be carried by a coup de 
/•tree. One of these attempts would have succeeded 
but for the decisive and prompt action of the Presi- 
dent, in re-assembling Congress ; nay, would still 
have succeeded, if the courage of the persons con- 
cerned in it had been equal to their malice. 

The avowal that I allude to, was by Mr. Wilson, 
Senator of Massachusetts, at the nominating Con- 
vention of his party, held at Philadelphia, on 
the 17th of June last — of all places, Philadel- 
phia, where the Union had its incipiency by the 
first meeting of the First Congress of the United I 
Colonies in 1774; where the Second Congress, of 
immortal memory, was also held ; where AVashing- \ 
ton was appointed and commissioned the Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary forces ; where i 
the Declaration of Independence was written, j 
adopted, and announced to the world; where, after- ' 
ward, on the .'iimo spot that it had its incipiency ' 
in 1774, the Union was finally established in the 
adoption of the Constitution ; of all places, the 
place so replete of national rcmiuitcences, the 
"City of Brotherly Love," not only in the sense 
(hat it is usually applied, but that ought emphatic- 
ally to be the City of Brotherly Love to the jitople | 
of the United States ; of all places that City ; of 
all days, and by a man of Massachusetts, the anni- 
versary of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and of the 
commissioning of the illustrious Virginian to take 
charge of the armies then engaged iu the protection 
crf Boston and Cambridge: time, place, person, oc- 
casion, all chosen as if to give the greater empha- 
fu to the avowal, and to cuter a defiance of all 
patriotic associations, sympathies and tics. 

Mr. Senator Wilson declared, on that occasion, 
that the "freemen of the Xoitk haic a 'l.jkt lu 
govern the conulry," and that they (the Convention) 
had assembled " to tnkc the (jovcrnmcnt of the Ke- 
jmbli,' ;" and the declaration was received by the 
<"onvontion with " enthusiastic cheers." I cite the 
words from the Xmiomil InttUi'jcu er, which "places 
on record" the speech of Mr. Wilson, and other 
prominent members of (ho Convention, iu order 
that their readers, to use the words of those expe- 
rienced and sagacious editors " may have a view 
of the Ubuc» tendered, and the ohjertt urvirrd by 

that body." 

In pursuance of this declaration of Jlr. Wilson, 

that Lin party wore assembled for the purpose of 

''Uxliiog poittsiiioii of (he (ivvtrumtni, " Ihc mem- 



bers of that party in the House of Representati re- 
proceeded to the attempt — 

First, In its proceedings against certain members 
of the House, on a suggestion that a personal en- 
counter had taken place between Mr. Brooks and 
Mr. Sumner, in which the former had committed au 
assault and battery on the latter. 

I do not .say any thing of the merits of that en- 
counter, for I have nothing to do with them. I 
regard the affair as purely personal as any other 
affair of assault and battery. It was, moreover, 
tried before the only tribunal that lawfully had 
cognizance of it, the Criminal Court of the county 
where it occurred, and the person who committed 
the assault paid the penalty of the law. Now, to 
make it a question of national concern, and bring 
it in for the purpose of further inflaming the 
public mind in a Presidential canvass, is to belittle 
our politics, and eminently to detract from our 
character as an intelligent peojile. 

But the proceedings of the House of Representa- 
tives, in the matter, are another affair. They arc, 
above all, of public concern. They involve among 
other things, an invasion of the rights of the con- 
stituencies whom the members prosecuted represent- 
ed; an invasion of the rights and liberties of those 
members, both as such and as citizens; infractions 
of the Constitution of the United States in several 
particulars; an attempt of one branch of the legis- 
lature to arrogate both the making and administra- 
tion of law. 

The procccdin js were under pretext of punishing 
a "breach of privilege" of the Senate, because the 
person assaulted was a Senator, and a "breach of 
privilege" of the House, because the assaulter was a 
member of the House. And the further pre- 
texts, that senators and representatives cannot 
be questioned outside of their respective Houses 
for any speech or debate, and that the Senate 
and Hoube may punish their members for 
" disorderly behavior." The provisions of the 
Constitution, under which alone cither House de- 
rives any power, are j'lain. Fimt, it says nothing 
about "breach of privilege ;" neither the words, 
nor the idea are there ; Second, the provision that 
for speech or debate in Congress, members shall 
not be elsewhere questioned, only means that no 
court or judicial tribunal shall take cognizance of 
a complaint so founded. If the clause means any 
thing beyond that, it cuts off all criticism by speech, 
in public ai^semblies, or the press, of the debates in 
the National Legislature, and so would nullify at 
least three provisions of the bill of rights attached 
to the Constitution. Third, the power to punish 
for "disorderly behavior" is only intended to ena- 
ble the Houses of Congress to protect themselves 
in the exercise of their legislative functions, and 
prevent interruptions and disturbances whilst so 
engaged. Otherwise, they might institute an cs- 
I'ionoge into all the utls of their respective mem- 



Ijers, and expel for wLatever improper eoiuluot ; in 
which ease, I imagine the present Congress wouhl 
long since have been obliged to dissolve for want 
of a quorum. 

As for the supposed " breach of privilege," there 
is such a thing in a parliamentary sense, and in 
that sense, the Constitution provides for it. In the 
present case, the only breach of privilege commit- 
ted was by Mr. Sumner, in his speech in the Se- 
nate ; and there he ought to have been called to 
order, and if he persisted, been "punished for dis- 
orderly behaviour ;" a case that exemplifies what 
that provision of the Constitution means. 

Parliamentary law prescribes what that privi- 
lege shall be, and how, in the body itself, an abuse 
of it may be corrected and punished. Criminal 
law, what shall be i'-.e penalty of resenting an 
abuse of it in an extra legal manner. It follows 
that Mr. Sumner was answerable to the Senate, and 
ought to have been rebuked by the Senate, and on 
the spot, for an abuse of the privilege of debate, 
by disrespectful allusions to other Senators, and to 
States of the Union ; and that Mr. Brooks was an- 
swerable to the criminal law (the penalty of which 
he suffered,) for taking redress into his own hands. 

The proceeding in the House was an exercise of 
judicial power, whereas, the Constitution declares 
that all judicial power of the United States shall be 
vested in the Courts thereof. 

It was affixing a penalty not known to any law, 
and hence ex post facto. 

It was holding persons to answer for (what the 
action of the House would make) an "infamous 
crime," without a presentment by a grand jury; 
and it was a criminal prosecution, in which the ac- 
cused was not allowed "a speedy and public trial, by 
an impartial jury;" and so an invasion of personal 
rights declared by the Constitution. 

The manner of getting up the indictment, and 
carrying on the prosecution, was full of absurdities 
and illegalities, and the result of it exhibited the 
House in a ridiculous attitude. 

Mr. Edmundson and Mr. Keitt were called 
by the prosecutors as witnesses against Mr. Brooks, 
without being informed that there was any accusa- 
tion against themselves; and then, solely on their 
own testimony, they were included in the indict- 
ment — made their omi accusers, by means of testi- 
mony got out of them in another case. This is a 
slight of hand mode of getting up an accusation, 
and procuring a conviction hardly worthy of the 
jurisprudence of this day. 

A curious feature in the case, was the character 
of the offences charged on Mr. Edmunson and 
Mr. Keitt. They were arraigned for not hetraying 
the confidence of a friend ! A more curious feature? 
that the indictment presents precisely the same state 
of facts in regard to Mr. Edmunson and Mr. Keitt, 
yet one was convicted by the House, the other ac- 
quitted -! 



Finally. The House rrented the ofTenoe. pre- 
scribed the penalty, and defined the manner of the 
prosecution and trial, all in direct violation of Con- 
stitutional guarantees — thus at once usurping the 
legislative power and invading the Constitution. — 
Thej' acted in a judicial capacity — thus usurping 
the functions of the Constitutional .Judiciary, and 
again invading the Constitution; in both, invading 
personal liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. 

It is in this view that those proceedings in the 
House of Representatives are arraigned, as one of 
the attempts on the part of leaders of the "Repub- 
lican" coalition to break down, by force of numbers, 
the limitations of the Constittition, and concentrate 
the powers of the government in factious majorities 
of the House, and the power of the country in a 
local, sectional majority, regardless of State rights; 
in short, in the words of Mr. Senator Wilson, to 
''take possession of the government." 

In this respect, those proceedings ought to be 
analyzed, and held to the view of, not alone the 
"free men of the North," thus unjustly charged 
with desiring to usurp the government, but by the 
freemen of the country, to whom alone belongs 
the "right to govern the country," and to tliem only 
in accordance with the Constitution. 

The other attempts that I have alluded to, as 
made at the late session of Congress, on the integ- 
rity of the government and to pervert the Constitu- 
tion, are those persistant propositions to attach to 
the bills for the support of the government, matters 
extraneous to the irarpose of the bills, and known 
to be objectionable to the other branch of Con- 
gress and to the executive. Those propositions 
were wrong in themselves, and their unconstitu- 
tionality as they were originally presented, was so 
clearly shown, that their advocates were compelled, 
in mere self-defence, to pass them through a series 
of modifications ; but at last, and as finally insisted 
on, they exhibited at least this unconstitutional 
and aggressive feature, that they proposed to de- 
prive the President of his constitutional function 
as Commander-in-Chief of the Army. In other re- 
spects also, they were objectionable, considered 
even as naked propositions,offered for the free con- 
sideration of Congress and the Executive. 

But it is not a question touching the merits of 
the propositions, that I suppose to be before the 
country, but the manner in which they were at- 
tempted to be forced on the acseptance of the Sen- 
ate, and the approval of the President. 

In this view, they were clearly a premeditated 
attempt on the part of a sectional majority in the 
House of Representatives, to seize the powers of 
the State, and coerce the Senate and the President 
into their support, under pain of a dissolution of 
the government. 

In this aspect it is they are serious. In this 
aspect they are pursuant of Mr. Senator Wilson's 
declaration of the intention of an exclusively sec- 



tional coalition, hy force of numbers, and regard- { in a sectional interest, and in a sectional majority 
less of the rights and independence of the States, of the House of Representatives, the government 
and of the limitations of the Constitution, to "lake \ of the Rcpuhlic; and what the consequences of that 
possession of the Government." Had this attempt j revolution would be, do not need to be depicted, 
succeeded in all the bills to which the propositions But, moreover, the essential idea, even now, on 
were attached in the Uouse, it would have amount- | which the Opposition has coalesced, is that there is 
ed to a dissolution of the Government, or a change j a natural and necessary antagonism between the 
in its character, according as the Senate and people of those States which do, and of these which 



the President had yielded to the coercion of the 
House, or remained true to their constitutional 
functions. In the Army bill the attempt was very 
near succeeding; and the only reasons why it did 
not succeed, are those stated above. Had it suc- 
ceeded, it would have worked, to that extent, a dis- 
solution of the Government, and aflorded a prece- 



de not, admit of domestic slavery. Eead their res- 
olutions, their addresses, their speeches, their let- 
ters, their presses. The most moderate of them 
enunciate distinctly that idea. It is their rallying 
point — their war cry. Now, the proposition must 
be false, or one of two things must happen. 
If it bo not false, then the Union must cither be 



dent to future factious and sectional majorities in | broken up, or it must be held together by force. If 
the House, that must have led to the destruction of 
our present form of government. 

But, again, what is the essential idea of the 
'•■Republican" coalition? Its leaders profess that 
they do not contomplato or desire any interference 
with any domestic afl'air of any of the States; and 
many of them treat with contempt the idea that 
they care anything for slaves or slavery, beyond 
the use of the words to inflame the prejudices of 
their constituencies in order to gain political power. 

I think that many of them are actuated by that 
motive — though, if there could be a worse one, I 
have never heard it suggested — and that no im- 
mediate aggressions, in that respect, on the Slave- 
holding States, would follow the success of the 
"Republican" coalition. But it has never been given 
to persons who excite and use popular passion, pre- 
judice and fanaticism, to control the fires that they 
light; and thougii those leaders would now per- 
.>-uade tho friends of the Constitution and the Union, 
and have deluded many sincere persons into the idea 
that nothing is intended against tho internal rights 
of the St-ites, they know that the promise is falla- 
cious, and that the present success of their 
party would necessitate to those who would 
keep at its head further and further concession, 
and more and more stimulus to the passions 
they aro now arousing. The " t.aking possession," 
therefore, of the government, according to Mr. 
Wilson's programme, by a sectional part}', dominated 



the two parts are actually antagonistic, it is impos- 
sible that they shall bo kept together but by coer- 
cion. It is the belief of the Democratic party that 
the proposition is false — totally false ; that there is 
no necessary antagonism ; that, on the contrary, 
there is a mutual interest, a mutual attraction, and 
that all parts of the Union may remain harmoni- 
ously together, to the mutual advantage of all 
parts, by a mutual reaction of benefits. The con- 
trary idea — the idea of antagonism — is the key to 
Air. Wilson's declaration of the intention of his 
party, to " take possession of the government." It 
means, we will overcome the antagonism by subju- 
gation. It means that, if it means anything. 

■Whilst preparing this letter, I have met with a 
remarkable extract of an address of Mr. Speaker 
Banks, lately made in Mass.achusetts. Says that 
gentleman : "At no moment of my life, in no par- 
oxj-sm of indignation, under no feeling of excite- 
ment, have I ever uttered a word or cherished a 
thought, except that of the highest veneration and 
deepest love for tho union of these States. Long 
may it continue as it is, unchanged ! Long may it 
continue ! — so long as the stars of the firmament of 
God above us shall bo the bright prototype of tho 
stars of our glorious Union. But I have to say 
what I know to be true, that in tio event of human 
histori/ irill the Union of these States be dissolved. 

"I can conceive o/ a time ichen this Constitvtiojt 
shall not he in clstcnce, when we shall have an abso- 



\)y secti()nal ideas, its ambition inflameil by the lute military dictatorial government, transmitted 
possession of power, and with the belief that it j from age to age, with men at itd head who aro 
was engaged in a iihilanthropic enterprise, could i made rulers by military commission, or who claim 
not fail ultimately, (and Ijcfore long), to lead to en- I an hereditary right to govern thtVo over whom 
croachments on tbo internal affairs of the States. I they are placed. But the dissolution of these States 
■Wo have not, then, a question of tho good faith or | will never come. \o j)arti/ that has rossEssiox of 
good intentions of this or that candidate, or this or I *Ae I'nion will allow the minority to break the 



that leader of tho Republicans, or of .nil combined; 
but the tendency — tlio eonstqncnccs of tho ideas, 
principles, desires and sentiments that have brought 
about the ])rescnt formidable conibiniition of (in 
other respect.-*) discordant elements. That tondcn- 



bands." 

Ah, Mr. Banks, Mr. Banks, arc not the thoughts 
developed in thuso lines that I have emphasized, 
fathcix'd by tho wish? You arc a man of too keen 
a perception and too doiluctivo a mind, not to h.ave 



cy is, to break up the federative principle of the followed to their con.«icfiuences the measures dis- 
union, pervert the Constitution, and conccntrulc tinctive of your party at the late session of Con- 



gress, of which, by your superior talents, activity, 
and decisive character among your associates, 
you Avere the stay and support. At all events, you 
now shadow forth those consequence. If you 
have not foreseen, and do not desire them, be warned 
by them, and by the boastful menace uttered by 
the principal character in your late Convention at 
Philadelphia, with the approbation of that assemb- 
ly. You may be right, sir, that by geographical 
necessities, by force of circumstances, or force of 
arms, the Union may be preserved, though the 
Constitution be lost. But youi- brilliant compari- 
son will not then serve. 

The constellation of our Union can only be pro- 
totyped by the stars of the firmament, whilst the 
orbs that compose it, like those of the Heavenly 
constellations, move in their separate tracks, and 
all harmoniously together. That figure can no 
more charm our imaginations, or warm our hearts, 
when the avowed purposes of others, and the appa- 
rent pm-poses of yourself, shall have been accom- 
plished, and, instead of a constellation, we see but 
a single orb, and that with all fiery and bitter ele- 
ments raging in its midst. You may be right, that 
no party that shall "have possession of the Union " 
will permit a division, a separation of it : and hence 
that it cannot be divided. But I will tell you what 
can happen to it, and what no party, no human 
power can save it from, if you and those who are 
with you succeed in sufiiciently combining the bale- 
ful elements with which you work, inflaming the 
passions of those who trust and honor you, and ex- 
asperating their countrymen elsewhere. If the 
Union cannot be divided — if it cannot be rent in 
twain^ — these angry heats that you are raising, will 
certainly explode it, burst it in fragments. Where, 
then, will be your brilliant comparison of th e gems 
on our flag, with the stars on high? The regions 
of space will still offer you a similitude: those frag- 
mentary bodies, that nightly present to the eye of 
science the dark spectacle of ruined worlds. 

Gentlemen of the Committee, there will be pre- 
sent, no doubt, at your Constitutional Celebration, 
many citizens of your neighboring States of New 
Jersey and Delaware, and the more distant one of 
Rhode Island. Those are gallant States. None 
stand more conspicuous, or with more honor re- 
flected on them, in the struggles foreign and inter- 
nal, that so happily ended in the adoption of the 
Constitution. They showed an unsurpassed mag- 
nanimity of character, (and which they have ever 
since maintained,) in perhaps the most trying hour 
of all our history; that which preceeded the ratifi- 
cation of the Articles of Confederation. The 
question of the ownership of the great territo- 
ries west of the then populated portions of 
the States, and which, if won, were to be 
won, as well as the independence of the 
States themselves, in a common cause, threat- 
ened to break up even the loose alliance that then 



existed. In this emergency, ;hose States more in- 
terested than any of the others could be in a prior 
settlement of the question, with that trust which 
consciousness of rectitude inspires, entered into the 
Confederation unconditionally, and the articles 
proposed by the general Congress were ratified. 
Then the great domain of the West was voluntarily 
ceded for the common cause, and so the Govern- 
ment was enabled to sustain itself, and push to 
triumph the war of the revolution . The first named 
of these States (Delaware) was the first to adopt 
the Constitution — namely, 7th December, 1787. 
The second named (New Jersey) was only eleven 
days after. Rhode Island was the last of the 
THiRTEE>f that consented to merge any portion of 
her sovereignty more than she had yielded in the 
articles of confederation. 

Will the citizens of those small States — New 
Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut- or 
of any of them, consent to the scheme by which 
their weightin the Federal Government, their equal- 
ity with their more powerful neighbors in the Senate, 
and their participation as States in the electorship 
of the President, are to be lost ? I cannot believe 
that they, or any of them, will aid in the 
destmction which is threatened of that Con- 
stitution hy which alone they live — by which 
alone they retain their respective names ; by 
which alone they remain New Jersey, Delaware, 
Rhode Island and Connecticut. Their absorption 
by their powerful and populous neighbors — their 
utter demolition as States — is the fate that threat- 
ens them, is the fate that will befal them, in the 
event of the success of that formidable coalition 
whose dark portent shadows the land. 

Gentlemen of the Committee, there are many of 
our fellow citizens, who are irresistibly led, in this 
juncture, to the support of our candidates, who do 
not adopt the "platform," or the general principles 
of the Democratic party. The true doctrine is, 
let them come; open wide your doors; invite them; 
spread the feast; so only that they accept so much 
of the platform as sustains the Constitution and 
the Union, welcome them with hand and heart. 
The candidates presented by the Democratic party 
are worthy to be supported by any patriot; and the 
position of the party itself, as the party of the na- 
tion, draws to its support large numbers who never 
before acted with it. They are entitled to be heard 
in the management of the contest; and their feel- 
ings, wishes, preferences, to be consulted; and that 
will greatly aid in our success. 

The part of the "platform" which has, perhaps, 
been most criticised, is that which relates to the 
foreign policy of our country. But, let the warmest 
lover of peace, the most timid of capitalists, or 
any other person tell us in what instance our coun- 
try has lost either in dignity and respect abroad, or 
power at home, by holding a firm attitude in re- 
pcct of any question with foreign States ? Indeed; 



6 



I am ronvinreil thiit our country never lia= acted ' 
fully up to its part among nations; and the more ! 
fully that it does act up to it, the less it will be 
liable either to threatenings or war. I 

A distinctive feature of the declaration of prin- 
ciples and intentions announced at the Democratic , 
Convention at Cincinnati, is particularly gratifying I 
to the people of the Pacific coast, of which I am — i 
that which pledges the Democratic party to use the ' 
powers of the government in the construction of a [ 
railroad — a national highway — through the territo- [ 
ries of the Union which lie between the Atlantic 
SUtes and those of the Pacific. Such a work is 
not of so much pecuniary importance to California 
as to the States of the Atlantic. But in our isola- 
ted condition, it has to us a peculiar and absorbing 
interest. Out in that remote part, we are quite a« 
loyal to the Union — perhaps more so, because your 
sectional feuds arc there hardly felt — as aay of the 
States on the Atlantic side. Besides that, wo have 
our social relations here ; our parents and kin of 
all degree, our friends and old associations. For 
these reasons we wish, and now, such a communi- 
cation as the telegraph and a railroad would fur- 
nish, that our political connection may be more 
complete, and our social attachments be kept alive. 
We know, moreover, that though pride in the Am- 
erican name, the love for the Union in which we 
were bred, and the ties of kindred and affection, 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



hi I TDDr>Dv rtir (^n»i<~r«r-or- esamecou- 

rith the suc- 
!ans of corn- 
community 
nd we know 

'' 011 897 907 2 # We our- 

se , ver to be a 

part of, cannot reach the height of power and re- 
nown of which it is capable, except its borders ex- 
tend to both the great oceans. A resolution, that 
such a communication shall be made, was therefore 
peculiarly appropriate, from that party to which ig 
committed, at this moment, the preservation of the 
Union — the Union of East and Weft, as well 03 
North and South. With the sagacity that marks 
that party, it has perceived, that without a direct 
communication, the long continuance in the Union 
of the Pacific slope would be not only a moral and 
political, but a physical impossibility ; and henco 
have resolved, that such a communication .«hall bo 
made. You of the Atlantic States know and feel 
what stores of wealth are added to you twice a 
month from the Pacific: but you have not per- 
ceived, nor reflected, how important and conserva- 
tive a part is to be acted, in the future of the Re- 
public, by the nine or ten States that are to come 
of the Golden Hesperia. Very respectfully, your 
fellow-citizen, 

WM. CAREY JONES. 



OBBABVOFCO;.GBESS 



Oil 897 907 2 



